Today on Moment of Zen, we're airing a conversation with economist Noah Smith and Substack CEO Chris Best discussing the evolving media landscape. They dive into whether Twitter's dominance is waning, what features a successor platform would need, and how artificial intelligence is set to transform media as we know it. This conversation originally took place live on Noah's Substack: https://www.noahpinion.blog/

--

📰 Be notified early when Turpentine's drops new publication: https://www.turpentine.co/exclusiveaccess

🙏 Help shape our show by taking our quick listener survey at https://bit.ly/TurpentinePulse

--

SPONSORS: NETSUITE | SHOPIFY | ADQUICK | SQUAD

Over 41,000 businesses trust NetSuite by Oracle, the #1 cloud ERP, to future-proof their operations. Whether you're earning millions or hundreds of millions, NetSuite empowers you to tackle challenges and seize opportunities. Download the free CFO's guide to AI and machine learning at https://netsuite.com/zen.

Shopify is the world's leading e-commerce platform, offering a market-leading checkout system Shoppay and exclusive AI apps. Nobody does selling better than Shopify. Get a $1 per month trial at https://shopify.com/momentofzen.

The easiest way to book out-of-home ads (like billboards, vehicle wraps, and airport displays) the same way you would order an Uber. Ready to get your brand the attention it deserves? Visit https://adquick.com/ today to start reaching your customers in the real world.

Head to Squad to access global engineering without the headache and at a fraction of the cost: head to https://choosesquad.com/ and mention “Turpentine” to skip the waitlist.

--

RELATED LINKS:

Eugene Wei's Status as a Service: https://www.eugenewei.com/blog/2019/2/19/status-as-a-service

Twitter, Threads, and Remote Work with Eugene Wei:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1zSxuEAgUUlptJHNEr2Q7O

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/twitter-threads-and-remote-work-with-eugene-wei/id1661672738?i=1000621483289

--

X / TWITTER:

@noahpinion

@eriktorenberg

@turpentinemedia

--

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DISCUSSION:

Breaking News Platform Concept

Noah proposed Substack could replace Twitter's former role as a breaking news hub by recruiting OSINT specialists and citizen journalists to create live blogs
These would function as both real-time updates and daily digest newsletters, solving the chicken-and-egg problem of audience vs. content

AI's Impact on Media

AI will serve as a "force multiplier" for writers rather than replacing them entirely
Key applications: summarization, curation, and search enhancement
Writers may use AI teams to amplify their unique perspectives and research capabilities

Platform Evolution

Twitter's decline attributed to the shift from chronological to algorithmic feeds (pull to push media)
The "age of Twitter" for breaking news lasted roughly 2011-2023
Substack currently excels at day-after analysis but lacks real-time news capabilities

Geopolitical Concerns

Noah expressed pessimism about US competitiveness against China due to population size (4x difference)
Concerns about weakened alliance systems under recent US foreign policy
Worries about falling behind in electric/battery technology due to policy and cultural resistance

Content Abundance Problem

Both noted the challenge of infinite content creation vs. scarce attention
Emphasized importance of choosing content that shapes who you become, not just what you want right now

The Tale of Two Sons B

Grace to You: Radio Podcast

Outro

The AI-powered Podcast Player